rusted bolts
 

how do YOU deal with the rusted bolts???

i've been doing pretty good so far by drowning them in wd-40 for a while, then getting a wrench and a hammer and banging untill they come loose. this has worked very well so far, but i have a problem. im trying to take off the front sway bar so i can get the rb one on. ya know the bolts attaching the sway bar and end of the tension rod to the frame. well, they are in a very awkward position. i've gotten all but two bolts on each side loose. i just can't seem to get those last ones loose. any suggestions??

8 inch grinder ALL THE WAY :D

AIR TOOLS!
TORCH!
CHISEL!
big ole freakin wrench.

Gas Wrench :D

~T.J.

Ok, seriously, try heating them up with a butane torch, propane torch, oxy-acetylene torch, you get the idea. The heat will make the metal shrink a little and loosen its grip. Watch any kinda fuel lines, bushings, meltable things, flamable things, or whatever might be around you though (duh)...Have fun

~T.J.

uuuhhhh...don't things expand when heated?

its just so FRUSTRATING!!!!!!

Umm...when you freeze water, does it get bigger or smaller? :D I could be wrong, the properties of water and metal are very different, I just know that we used to do it in welding all the time in HS and it always worked. Maybe it just burned off the rust or something...I dunno, all I know is it worked in welding, and its what our teacher told us to do.

~T.J.

When useing the heat trick you should heat the area around the bolt, that way the hold expands not the bolt thus freeing it. this should work. If not get a big fuckin impact gun crank your compresson up to 150 PSI and blast that fucker out of the hole. If you're pressed for space substiture a air ratchet and get it out that way. Always seems to work for me. If it were me I'd heat it up real hot then use the air tools to minimize the risk of sheering the bolt head off. Good Luck :D

sorry typo above it should read "...that way the hole expands not the bolt..." sorry bout that oops :)

I just dealt with this installing a Bonez cat converter. The old cat and pre-stages were the original and had never been removed from the header. Needless to say the nuts were rusted. I did the same - WD-40 and wrench/hammer combo. The position was akward too. Underneath the car with the car on jack stands. My solution ... I used my big torque wrench. It was quite a bit larger and I was able to use it as a big lever to apply pressure. The big tirque wrench with a deep socket and it worked great. BTW, this is what I use for removing and installing my sparkplugs too. That's what worked for me. You may have already tried this, but I thought I'd reply anyway.

i havent busted out the big torque wrench yet, i'll probably do that tomorrow. i'll have to dig out the old butane torch too.

also, how about the end links for the front bar. the spacer is rusted to the bolt. im going to attack those with the torch tomorrow too. any other suggestions for those? i have all new parts, but i cant get the old ones off!

and thanks to you guys for helping me out!

Yeah, you're wrong. Water is freakish in that is the only thing (at least that I know of) that expands when cooled and contracts when heated.

Right on.

Heat with a torch. Then, when cool enough but still a little hot spray on the WD. It runs into the threads better. Don't flambe' yourself. I cut off the end link with a hacksaw on a sawsall as I had to replace it anyway.

i have cut a couple off, replaced with adco ones from PepBoys, they even had Urethane bushings.

Penetrant
 

The best penetrant that I've found, and I've tried a lot of 'em, is the stuff that your Chrysler Dealer sells. A can of MOPAR penetrant lasts a long time and is surprisingly the best penetrant I've ever come across.

Impact, and heat can help, but watch out with extra long cheater/breaker bars as you can twist the bolt head off.

Denny, from the 'ol corncrib...:D

I seen a little trick that seemed to work (haven't tried it myself) but the logic seems to work.

This method won't be good for all positions.

It is basically the same as heating up the metal around the bolt, but also when the area is heated up, melt some parrafin or candle wax into the bolt and should make the rusted area more slippery, rather then rust on rust.

thanks, i got the bolts and front sway bar off with the big torque wrench and some good hard pulling. now its time for the end links. any other suggestions? if not, im getting the saw.

Same thing happened to me on the rear end links. The sleeve rusted to the bolt.:cursing: Just hack the top bolt head off with a hack saw. It's not like you need the pieces later anyways.
Remember always the mechanic's number one rule; The bigger the hammer, the quicker the job.

I use that rust buster stuff.. breaks up rust better than WD40 any day..

UGh... find some KROIL (we've got it at work but I don't know where to get more) let it soak... that'll get anything loose after just a few mins.
if you don't need the bolt and you have room, large ratchet with a pipe on it for leverage works every time :)

I found some of the most effective rusted corroded bolts come off with out breaking by tapping on them with a hammer a bunch of times right on the head of the bolt or nut or what ever and spraying the wd-40 on it while once in a while and then let it sit for a while soaking and tapp some more on it spray more. This may not get it off sometimes, but has saved my ass several dozen times without a torch when one isn't available.

THis is all relative too..if its a really small bolt, it will probably break, but if its really huge, torch is going to be safe. However after you do torch it, let it cool WITHOUT water, because this will reorangize the cristal structure of the metal and weaken it some. This is what a metalurgy professor told us in class....

Where do you get new bolts if the ones you have are broken?

cheers'

I got mine at Pep Boys. They came in a kit with urethane end link bushings. ADCO brand. otherwise the junkyard, or it is just a bolt with a sleave, any good bolt shop should have one that'll work.

i ordered mine from mazdarix, they have some new and used ones for about $5